Determination overcomes disability, brings success

July 03, 2008|By GENE STOWE Tribune Correspondent

Kane Bolin lost his eyesight in a medical accident after his premature birth. He still has a vision for helping people make their financial plans with Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. in Mishawaka, which he opened in 2000 with his wife Danika.

Brolin apparently is the only totally blind person who has passed the Certified Financial Planner test in the United States Â? a problem, he thinks, because more people like him should be able to share that success.

The only accommodation the board made was to hire a person outside the industry to read the questions to him and fill in the answer sheet as he directed. He passed the first time, in late 2005, after taking five online courses and a week of review in Chicago across three years.

HeÂ?s bothered that about three-fourths of the legally blind people in the United States are not employed, far fewer than some other countries such as Sweden and Spain, and he does what he can to help them and their families secure their financial futures.

Â?I believe in giving back to my community and people who have helped me,Â? Brolin says. Â?I had a lot of people help me get the education, the skills, the tools I would need to succeed in the world.Â?

Brolin focused on communications when getting an undergraduate degree at Iowa State University and worked at a radio station for more than six years before deciding to change careers.

Â?I needed to have something that looked more like a management background,Â? he says. Â?When I was studying the communication stuff, I had good enough grades to qualify for good graduate schools.Â?

He graduated from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in marketing with an emphasis on research in 1995.

Â?I found that I was good at research,Â? says Brolin, who worked in business research for Dow Chemical Co. until late 1998, when he married Danika and decided to leave the corporate world.

Â?We decided we wanted to be entrepreneurs,Â? he says. Â?It was a learning experience. We wanted to build our job around our life rather than our life around our job.Â?

The couple moved to Michiana to be near her family, and he took a job as a financial adviser.

Â?I like working with people,Â? Brolin says. Â?You meet their kids and watch them retire. ItÂ?s a way to help people youÂ?ve gotten to know on a personal basis with the life they want to live. ThereÂ?s a sales component, but thereÂ?s also an analytical component.

Â?I like working with people that fall into three areas,Â? he says:

nÃ¾People who are approaching retirement or in the first few years after they have stopped working.

Â?The idea is figuring out whatÂ?s next,Â? he says, from spending time with grandchildren to touring the world to starting a second business.

Â?ThatÂ?s when a lot of people are shifting their priorities and shifting their money. ThatÂ?s a great time for people to transition.Â?

nÃ¾Business owners.

Â?I am a business owner, Brolin says. Â?Not all people in the financial industry are. A lot of it is about selling businesses or expanding businesses or protecting certain employees in the business.Â? He can help design 401(k)s for employees or customized plans for owners or executives.

nÃ¾People with special needs and their families.

Â?I have instant credibility,Â? he says. Â?TheyÂ?re serious about doing real planning,Â? including insurance, investing and arranging of trusts to care for relatives with needs.

He built the business on Â?smile and dial,Â? calling mostly strangers at first to explain what he had to offer.

Â?Every year, itÂ?s gotten better,Â? he says. Â?I am always looking for new clients. I sit down and talk to people about their dreams, their goals. The core of what I do is tied up with these serious planning issues.

Â?I am very interested in helping families educate people in their families,Â? says Brolin, who will sponsor a scholarship-finding expertÂ?s talk on Sept. 17 and 18 for anyone who wants to learn how to find money.

For more information, contact Brolin at Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. at (574) 254-9192.